Chapter Nine
“Playsomething for me, Milly.” Rose sat beside her, watching eagerly, as she did every time Milly sat down at the piano.
Slipping into an Irish melody, she used the time to think of how her life had settled into a routine here with the Wimplestow family in the last few weeks. She liked them all now. Angus was shy. Rose, gentle and smart, and Apple-blossom funny and sweet-natured, unless you tried to get her to do something she did not want to. Then she could be as malleable as an oak.
Their manners still left a lot to be desired, but those she was working on. Angus even stood now, to wait for the ladies to sit or leave the room. And just last night, Lord Wimplestow had not belched at the table.
She had thought about leaving after the kiss Lord Ellsworth had given her that day by the river, but had stayed... for now. That kiss had been both disturbing and exhilarating. The feeling of his lips on hers should not have made her stomach flutter, but the truth was, it had.
But he was an earl, and should not have kissed a governess. She hated to label him a libertine, because the man she had once known would not have been capable of such behavior... or had he? Had she been so wrong about him? Would a man who assisted a woman, a servant, on a cold winter morning, and allowed her to share his horse, be capable of such behavior?
He did kiss you, she reminded herself. Why had he done that?
She had been going over and over these thoughts for days now, and had come up with no answer.
“Oh, that was lovely, Milly. I want to play like that one day too.”
“I’m sure you will, Rose, but you must just keep practicing.”
“Now, Milly, I am to muck out the pigs, and you can come with me,” Apple-blossom said.
“I am giving Rose a lesson, Apple-blossom. Perhaps you could do so without me.”
“If I have to learn how speak in well-modulated tones, and to dance quietly, and not kick or caper about the place, nor speak to a gentleman unless he is first introduced, then you can muck out the pigs.”
She had spoken in haughty tones, which set Rose giggling.
“And do not get me started on what is an acceptable conversation topic.” Apple-blossom sighed. “God’s blood, I swear it is taxing, Milly.”
“I know, dear, but perhaps God’s blood should not be spoken out loud either.”
Apple-blossom’s shoulders slumped lower.
“Come, we shall muck out the pigs, and I shall even let you roll about in the mud if you wish to,” Milly said, rising to follow her charge from the room.
“I’m not entirely sure I wish to go into society, Milly.”
They walked side by side through the animals and their leavings, and to her surprise Milly did not even flinch. In fact she was comfortable at Wimplestow Hall now.
“I thought it was your fondest wish?”
The day was clear and cool. The blue sky held no promise of rain or snow, and it was a fine day to be outside, even if there were pigs in her near future.
“I thought it was too, but I’m not so sure now. But I would not want to disappoint Mother or Father by not going. Perhaps if you will go with me?”
She had told the family she was unable to go to London. Surprisingly they had not questioned her further, but she knew they were curious as to her reasons.
“I cannot, Apple-blossom.”
“Is it because you have bad memories of London, and have no wish to see people there again, Milly?”
Surprised at the words, Milly found herself nodding. “Yes, but please do not ask me to tell you more.”
She did not want to lie to Apple-blossom.
“All right, I won’t, but if you wish to confide in me, I am the soul of discretion.”
Milly stopped and looked up at her charge. “You are not the soul of discretion. Why, just yesterday I heard you telling Angus the secret Rose had charged you to keep.”
